A report on the ways that senior citizens acquire and qualify for long-term care was recently released by the Government Accountability Office, emphasizing the importance of reviewing the current process.

The report looked at the impacts of public policy, as well as looking at who was getting benefits, and what seniors were using the most.

The current system of Medicare and Medicaid can make it difficult for seniors to get benefits for long-term care without purposefully getting rid of their assets, said Vincent Russo, past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

“We really should focus in on creating a universal system that’s not based on impoverishment,” Russo said. “It reflects the reality of whom and where seniors are.”

With Medicare being substantial but not covering long-term care, and the financial requirement tests that come along with Medicaid, seniors are often left without the ability to even apply for care, Russo said.

Sometimes seniors have family in different state who are unable to help provide the required paperwork, or are unable to provide it due to personal diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Russo added.

“Unfortunately, we say to those people, ‘You’ve got the wrong disease, we’re not going to come to you until you’re impoverished,’” Russo said. “’We’re just going to give you a very small amount of income to live in the community.’”

There are seniors who need help with simple and essential tasks such as eating, bathing and dressing, which aren’t covered under Medicare.

Seniors should be able to worry the least while living their “golden years”, but instead they have to worry about managing their assets when it comes to getting medical coverage, Russo said.

“Do we want to have a system that says spend all your money, have nothing, then we’ll take care of you? How do you live in a community if you have no assets at all?” Russo said.

There’s a difference in terms of care between when someone has Alzheimer’s and when someone has a heart attack, but seniors in need should just be seniors in need, added Russo.

“We really need to take a fresh look at where we are,” Russo said. “How we resolve the fact that we have a broken system that forces seniors to impoverish themselves to get long term care.”

Seattle-area based native Reed Strong is a college senior at Western Washington University majoring in journalism, working with Northwest Prime Time to talk with local seniors and baby boomers to report on local issues to get those issues back to the community at large.